Trademark issue with Nokia Here now resolved

David (Senior) versus Goliath

13 FEBRUARY 2015, LONDON, UK

Summary

Updated 12th February 2015, London, UK
Amendment: Subsequent to the events below, we have been in contact with HERE's representatives and agreed to remove their name from our apps. HERE has accepted our request for a longer, two month period for us to make the changes. We now consider the matter to be closed.

On the 30th January 2015 Lowdownapp Ltd received a 104 page letter from the Finnish Giant Nokia regarding its 'trademark' of the word HERE, or HERE sign as they call it.

Why didn't Nokia call us and negotiate with us, before sending a 104 page letter of this level.

It's so heavy handed, all they needed to do was call us up, tell us about Nokia Here, then ask us to please change the name.

They are acting like a corporate bully, there was no need to be so strong with their approach.

Nokia must understand innovation comes from all sources and startups are innovating heavily in all areas of technology.

The name chosen for the free app named HERE was not meant to cause any brand confusion, it was the most literal communication of what the service does. We also believe there is no confusion to be had (the logos are distinctly different). That being said, work is already underway to develop and implement a new name for the Lowdown HERE service. The volume of this work is significant and may take until the end of March to complete but we've been given an ultimatum that it be removed by the 10th of February. This is a rather short period of time for a small team who have more important priorities; making a success of their actual brand, Lowdown.

In the meantime we are updating our marketing information (Lowdown website, Twitter feed, Apple App Store etc) to stress that our service is not part of Nokia here.

An honest mistake has been made and one we will act as swiftly as possible to correct, but the level of heavy handedness is somewhat appalling when aimed at such a small and relatively young business.

Quotes

"It is a falling Goliath v little David story that is unjust, however much [Nokia has] spent on marketing - we didn't think anyone would confuse a free messaging app with the 3rd largest mapping service in the world."
David Senior

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About Lowdown

Lowdownapp Ltd was founded in July 2013 by David Senior & Michael Worley who have already established a mobile strategy company, Spark33. During their careers in technology consulting and mobile user-experience + the many meetings they attended over the years led to the creation of Lowdown, which automates an hours meeting prep in an instant.

Privately owned and located in London, UK, the company is committed to developing next-generation productivity applications for consumer and business. The team at Lowdownapp Ltd combines over 20 years of technology consulting experience, working with international blue chip organisations, with six years of ‘new’ mobile services development and consultancy in apps.